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Chapter 2
Al entered the portal he had opened, and then stepped through to the forecourt of an area with pathways to other
territories afar. He then passed through and into an industrial manufacturing locale. He had steathfully followed
a robot here.
This was a rebel robot that had control of one of the timepieces. A timepiece that could stop time. Al referred
to them as rebots instead of robots, because of their rebellious behavior. There was one more somewhere else. Al
needed to take care of this one first.
Al was an android, a synthetic human. The time pieces could stop time but only for a short duration (ten minutes)
unless it was turned off before the time elapsed. After that the user would have to wait thirty minutes before
employing it again. It also had a limited range of effect, a 100 yard radius around the device. Anything outside
this radius would be exempt from its influence. The timepieces could only affect living organisms, not machines.
Robots were machines, but so were androids. The users of the device were also not affected.
There were three timepieces made by the higher order, but they did not function as they were originally expected
to. Al had already returned one back to Roberterian, a human of this higher order.
Al was now inside a large manufacturing facility, a facility that had started manufacturing sophisticated robots.
The rebot came here to steal industrial secrets, specifications and procedures. Its intent was to gain enough knowledge
so it could build a new race of superbots which could control the realms. It had a partner, another rebot that
killed a human-like form to gain control of the third timepiece. They both were in this realm.
Since Al looked liked a human and not a machine, he could fake being time restrained during the time stopping period.
He would then try to surprise the rebot and acquire the time piece. That is one of the reasons he was created by
the higher order and injected in this laboratory controlled universe. The realm he was in was inhabited by human
looking organisms, so he wouldn't have any problems blending in.
Al had taken a pair of work overalls from the locker room so he wouldn't appear any different than the rest of
the factory workers who were presently locked in stasis.
The rebot had snuck into this area and turned on the timepiece. It came during the graveyard shift so that any
sudden work stoppages wouldn't be noticed by the upper management. Standing motionless, Al watched the rebot on
a mezzanine as it was taking pictures with its photographic eye. Pictures of the specifications and production
data that had been compiled detailing the methods of robotic manufacturing.
Being an Android, Al could move ten times faster then a normal human. Al noticed an overhead crane just above him
with a cantilever arm. Al moved quickly up the mezzanine and grabbed the crane's control box which was suspended
by a cable from above. Using the controls he lowered the arm and swung it around knocking the rebot off balance.
The timepiece was jarred loose from the rebot and clattered to the floor.
The rebot spotted the movement of the android and did a quick summersault. The rebot's dexterity and coordination
was astounding. The rebot charged Al and its left arm changed into a sharp long rapier as it thrusted it towards
Al's midsection. Al barely avoided the fatal strike as he rolled away. The rebot turned the rapier into a curved
cutlass and thrashed wickedly at the retreating android causing a bloody gash on Al's left leg. Clear body fluid
gushed forth from the wound. Al tumbled near a cylinder of flammable gas with a hose extending from the top and
a cutting torch at its end.
There was a hand valve on top of the cylinder. Al desperately hoped that it was turned on. Al seized the cutting
torch, pointed it at the rebot and depressed the hand lever. A narrow flame shot out hitting the rebot in its face
plate. It staggered back, swiveling its head in confusion. Al leaped up and using his legs and feet, implanted
a double kick onto the rebot's chest. Al had struck the rebot with so much force that it was propelled backwards
where it smashed through some safety handrails and tumbled into a vat of molten steel below.
"Whew that was close." Al thought thankfully.
Al had good recuperative powers. The gash on his leg quickly stopped emitting fluid, and then turned into a slight
scar before disappearing completely. A more major wound could have caused Al serious problems.
Al returned the second timepiece to Roberterian then came back to this realm to pursue the other rebot. Al was
also instructed to make contact with Johnny, and later bring him to Roberterian so he could communicate with him.
The second rebot was being more cautious because it had not heard from its cohort for a while. It took weeks to
track it down. During that time Al also had made his initial contact with Johnny in the Earth realm.
The other rebot had entered a monetary center during off hours. It was presently at a computer monitor, manipulating
financial records. The rebot had turned on the timepiece just in case a janitor or security person happened by.
It had laid the timepiece on a desk beside the monitor. Robots were not uncommon in this realm, but they weren't
permitted to have access to financial records. Somehow this robot (rebot) had got into the database. It was illegally
transferring funds into a dummy account which would enable it to withdraw income anonymously.
Al had picked a door lock after disabling its alarm. The rebot must have done the same to another doorway. Al entered
through a back entrance and hid in the shadows, carefully watching the rebot. It would have to move further away
from the timepiece before Al could act. Robots could also move very swiftly despite their bulk.
'Come on! Come on! Give me an opening." Al thought anxiously.
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